Mounting Heavy Z axis

jtcooper2008 said:

Hello,

I just got the attached for almost nothing on an industrial auction.

I have been planing on doing a CNC mill in epoxy granite for a will but when I locked eyes on this it screamed at me. My plan is to remove the motor/spindle plate. replace the lead screw with a ball screw and use this as my base and the x axis.

I am mostly asking for general opinions and ideas, I am obviously new to this, but my main questions concerns the spindle and motor. They are setup for 3600rpm 2Hp which seems to put me in the right range but how the hell do I mount that monster on a movable x axis. I originally picked up some hiwin 20mm rails for this axis but I can imagine it will take the sort of torsion and pulling loads that thing will have. I know bridgeports and the like keep the motor rigid and move the tables up and down but I have no idea how to make that happen either. I have seen some knee mill use ways to move the motor assembly up and down but that seems impracticable.

I am hoping someone with more experience than me can see the solution of how to set this up in the minds eye.

Thanks,
John

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